


Life is Sweet and Sour

by sweetvamp96



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-21
Updated: 2014-03-31
Packaged: 2018-01-13 05:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1215181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetvamp96/pseuds/sweetvamp96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is about life at an Ivy League high school for those that are gifted and those that are rich. It primarily focuses on Equius and Aradia, but there will be others later on. It is about how school can get to someone and how romance can come from anywhere and any one even when you least expect it. Sappy yes, but a classic none the less.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Look

She had no clue; none at all. For once in a very long while Aradia was stumped by a history question. That usually never happens even when they get to modern history which is her weakest subject in all of the histories.

“Well Ms. Megido, we are waiting.” The teacher ever so clearly points out in front of the class. She has been out to get her since class started back in August.

Thinking it over for a little bit she shook her head before smirking ever so slightly before responding with, “It seems you have it wrong, Hitler was actually Jewish but resented it and renounced it before coming into power.”

“Correct, I expected nothing less from you.”

It was a crisis averted for today at least. This school was out to get her, but mostly that teacher was going to try and stump her with trick questions like that. Yet this school was not just after her to try and make her crack under the pressure, but it was out for everybody that was taking classes here. Being on basically an Ivy League school only for those who are in high school it was expected. This school was not known to the general public aside from those that are smart enough to get invited and those who shit gold. Aradia was part of the first batch, being that in history but well-rounded in other subjects or at least she liked to think.

Little did she know that as the class continued there was one set of eyes that refused to leave her even as the teacher continued to teach. They were a deep blue and came from a person whom most would not expect them to come from. They came from Equius Zahhak, and he did this a lot more often than one would allow themselves to believe. Yet he never talked to the girl he was looking at and was content to admire her from afar.

Class continued on and on, and with it being the last class of the day it was painfully slow compared to the rest. Sense Aradia already knew most of WWII she was drifting off and daydreaming. Thinking about traveling the world and discovering new ruins to explore like in Indiana Jones sort of thing. But none of that was practical after all. By doing that when the bell rang loud in her ears it seemed as if only minutes went by rather than a near hour when she woke from her daze. Since it wasn’t the weekend yet traveling to the park was out of the question, and because it was Thursday the dorms were being cleaned up by the staff. The library did seem like a good option but as rumors have it the advanced math classes have a test tomorrow so it would be crowded with those studying to try and get an A or beat their rival above the rest. So the girl made her way to somewhere with her books and found herself in a place she would never find herself normally; the rugby field.

When she realized where she was Aradia made her way to the bleachers to watch all of the guys practice. There was Nepeta on the bleachers with a moss green trench coat three sizes too big for her and messed up hair from the hat she wears all day despite the rules. The small Hispanic girl was scribbling on some paper, probably drawing from the looks of it waiting for a friend. It was better than nothing.

“Hey Nepeta! Fancy seeing you here. What’s up?” Aradia asked pleasantly.

The small girl looked up and smiled wide seeing a new face in the bleachers with her today. Her light coffee skin and the shaggy, short, dark brown hair went well with those brown, near black, eyes.

“Just waiting on a friend to get done with practice before he helps me with my math. Well, a friend of a rival but still! Why are you here anyways?” Her voice had a very light Latino accent to it, from her family Aradia supposed. It made her seem a little more childish than she already does.

“Dorms are being cleaned, library crowded as all hell, so I needed to find a place to study. Besides the grunting and the yelling in the background this place seemed as good as ever.”

Nepeta nodded to her and continued to draw on her sketch pad again, ignoring the new girl next to her for a while. Aradia did the same thing to her, only reading a history book until the end of practice.

***********************

Equius out on the field kept looking over at his friend in the stands, making sure she was okay. He was very protective of Nepeta, almost like an older brother to a younger sister. Even if they are not related in the least, describing their relationship like that would not be too far of a stretch.

In the middle of practice he looked over to check on her again and noticed a new body next to his friend. His eyes widened a little before a new force was applied to his body, and he went flying back a few feet before landing right on his ass. Shaking his head a bit and looking up at what hit him he saw a snarky looking smile staring back down at him blocking the sun. He knew who it was and kicked them off of him.

The one who knocked him down was known as Beck. Odd name, but he was a really odd guy. He was a big guy and nearly fully grown and was mistaken beyond his years more often than one would expect. Beck was just over seven feet tall and had a very muscular build, broad shoulders, tanned skin but not as dark as Equius, and dark brown hair that fell to the small of his back that seemed to always be in a braid. That was Equius’s rival.

“Looks like you were distracted. Make sure that doesn’t happen on the field pretty boy.” He taunted.

With a growl coming from him, Equius got back up and rubbed his head a little moving some loose strands of black hair off of his sweaty forehead. Man he hated this guy sometimes especially when one particular girl just happened to be here today.

 _Next time you will not be so lucky to get one on me_ he thought with his fists clenched. For the rest of the practice he wasn’t distracted and made sure not to make a fool of himself again.

***********************

The sun was nearly set when Aradia realized how much time has passed, and that was only because someone knocked her out of her daze. It was Nepeta actually, hitting one of her knees to make and allow her to see two big guys coming over to them. Placing her book back into her backpack she stood up to try and leave before they got here. No such luck.

“Hey Equius! How was practice?!” the younger girl squealed out as she ran to her friend and hugged him tight. His hands lifted up a little bit before putting down his duffle bag and hugged her back stiffly. The guy looked more in pain than anything but appeased his friend and hugged her back. She let go just as quickly as she latched onto him and turned to Aradia.

“Aradia, this is my friend Equius. Equius, this is my friend Aradia.” She introduced.

“Hey what about me? Aren’t I important too?” Beck piped up in the background sarcastically.

“Oh, and that is Beck. Equius and he don’t like one another, but that is how rivals are.”

Nodding some to all of them and giving her hellos to each Aradia could not keep her eyes off of big both guys were. Beck towered over all of them and made Nepeta look like a dwarf. Equius was almost a smaller, leaner version of him it seemed. He was over six feet tall, but was built more like a cage fighter than a body builder. A face that had high cheekbones and a defined jaw from his obvious Indian side; however the rest was lost to the girl.

“You the quite type? Come on; say something more than just hello.” Beck demanded with a laugh.

“Fine, fine I will talk. I guess you are going to be Nepeta’s tutor in math. Good luck is all I have to say.” She responded.

“Nepeta is fine in math, just slips little bit.” Equius came out. That accent it was thick as can be! It was a mixture of Russian and German into one somehow and it got transferred into English. Hiding behind his sun glasses he kept his eyes on Aradia and face stern.

“Well it isn't like how you are with the ladies. She is much better at that than you are with those.” Beck ridiculed. In return for that comment he got a punch in the arm from the guy next to him. Giving a deep laugh from that he walked over to Aradia and leaned in before whispering to her, “Don’t worry about him hitting on you, he is gay after all.” Once he finished that comment the next thing that came out of his mouth was a yelp of pain with a good punch to the jaw from Equius.

“Do not listen to him; he knows not what he is talking about.” Equius corrected.

Aradia giggled to the two of them and nodded in agreement with the two of them not really noting either of what they were saying seriously.

“No worries at all Equius. I do not believe in what rumors are and such. I believe wha the actual person says.” She told to him. From what she could guess there seemed to be a hint of a smile. He was really cute actually this close.

“Well Nepeta we have to go back to the math room so I can help you. Leave the two love birds alone.” Beck laughed before leaving and she at the heels of his boots.

So now they were there, alone, on the field with the sun setting. Kind of romantic when Aradia thought about it later but that didn't matter at that point. Her bodyweight shifted from foot to foot back and forth more often that what she would have liked.

“Well I guess I should be going back to my dorm. I might see you around sometime. Bye.” Aradia blurted out. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder she swiftly took off to the dorms.

“Wait. Let me carry your sack for you. Least I may do before I go home.” He offered to her.

She stopped quickly and turned around holding out her backpack.

“Well if you are offering I will let you. Thanks.”

Most of the walk was in silence between the two of him. He was not the catty sort that much was obvious to anybody that knew him. He seemed really nice actually but she only just met him. Getting to the female dorms was awkward to say in the least but quite is better than acting stupid.

“Well, thanks for carrying my books for me. I guess I will see you around then.”

With a bit of a nod to her and a slight grumble he almost reluctantly handed over the backpack to her. When she took the books away and gave him a muffled goodbye she went into the halls up the stairs and into her single room. Today did not seem any different to her in the least.

***********************

Equius stood outside the female dorms for a little bit watching her go in and wind up the stairs. He was there in the fall wind watching it before giving a bit of smile that was shy on the face that almost looked unamused or had a scowl on it. With that, he walked to his home off campus.


	2. Chapter 2

                 Friday was like any other day for Aradia. Get up, shower, dress, breakfast, school, lunch, school, and finally done. The weekend was her own to enjoy as she pleased. However, Sollux is at some card shop playing some games like Magic the Gathering and Tavros was with his family for the weekend. After dropping off her stuff and changing into something more comfortable than an itchy cotton blouse and for some reason a polyester skirt she heads back out of her dorm. Now in a more comfortable T-shirt and a soft skort with tennis shoes Aradia started to walk the two hours to the park closer to town. Some would call her crazy for doing such a thing but she was used to it by now because she did it so often. She would drive if she knew how to drive, had a license, and a car. It wasn’t deserted; there were subdivisions all along that she explores on her Saturday morning jogs around the place back to the park.

                To make time go by quicker, Aradia’s mind started to wonder around. Mostly back on the past and a less pleasant life and family. Some of the times were happy before a particular accident happened. After that, there were no happy times.

                At first everything was happy in that family she was in. A father, a mother, an older sister named Damara and Aradia. Her father was from the Middle East, Turkey actually and her mother was born in America but had a mixture of cultures from the Middle East as well with some others. It was those genes that gave Aradia her naturally light, tanned skin, dark, and silky but thick as can be near black hair and striking forest green eyes. It was a good mixture from what she could only guess.

                Her favorite day was Saturday when she was younger. From the start when she was only three years of age to when she was seven every weekend Aradia and her dad would go to the park and get an ice cream cone, she always got chocolate-ship and her dad always got strawberry, sit under a shaded tree to people watch or just relax. They never had a lot of money but they managed to get at least a dollar and a bit of change saved up during the week to be able to do this. Every Saturday had laughs and open feeling between the father and daughter, just a genuine understanding of one another. He gave her surprise presents on those days too sometimes, or he she would give him some childish homemade one. Like a doll she used to have or some drawing that she drew him or a letter that her friend wrote him (when it was actually her of course). He would pretend to love it and accept it like it was the most precious thing in the world and keep it. Later on he probably threw it away when she wasn’t there or something she figured as she got older. He would teach her Turkish and help her connect to her heritage better when they were under the trees at the park. Aradia always enjoyed it but most of those lessons are long gone from her mind and she hardly remembers any of it. The feeling is still there however. As she continued to walk to the park a smile came onto her face remembering that feeling fondly as if it was yesterday.

                Then that fatal day happened. Her dad always worked the late night shift at his job and came home early in the morning. He at first would wait for her to get up, but eventually she set an alarm to be able to sit out front and wait on him to get home. It was the Saturday before her sister’s birthday, and as usual Aradia was sitting in the folding chair outside their trailer home waiting for him to come home from work. Then they will walk to the park and get ice cream like usual. Yet around the time he would be home he did not come home. Aradia believed he could be stuck in traffic on the way home. So there she sat, waiting for him to come home so they can head off and do their thing. At first he was an hour late, and then it turned into two, and then into four and eventually the sun started to set on that Saturday. To a little kid that might as well have been death. Her mother came out to bring her inside for dinner when a car with lights on the top came into the driveway. Some guys in uniforms came out, cops, and asked to talk to the adult of the house. She sent Aradia to her room when Damara got home from a date to learn what happened. Aradia eventually learned what happened a week later. Her father died in a car crash coming home from work. Someone besides him was tired on the road and accidently drifted in front of him and both had a head on collision. He died on impact.

                It was two weeks after the crash when her dad was cremated because they could not afford a funeral for him. Aradia was given a necklace that could open up once before closing tight for good. She kept some of his ashes in that necklace and always wore it around her neck at all times, only taking it off when she was getting in a pool or a shower or something with water. The rest of her third of the ashes was kept in a jar that looked like an ice-cream cone. Many thought it was odd but no one knew the reasoning or meaning behind it. He is on a shelf in her dorm room now. Damara and her mother got the other two thirds of his ashes as well and only God knows what they did with them.

                After that everything went downhill from there. With mom going off to be a handmaid for some rich houses for six out of seven days a week Aradia and Damara had to practically raise themselves. Damara no longer had anyone brooding over her shoulder every five minutes anymore so instead of being the good girl she let loose a little bit. Then a little more, the eventually the girl went wild. It was almost a shame that she decided to say fuck it. Fights, sex, and now pot was her main thing so her life was going out of control. But hey, some people have different methods of coping right? Aradia on the other hand dove into her studies and almost secluded herself from life to read books about history and everything. Her dad got her into Indiana Jones so it was as if he was still there with her. Besides being in worse shape than before with her sister stealing mom’s money that comes in the mail for them to buy food and crap to fund her addictions she also tore down everything that was once her fathers. Aradia ran in there once when she was making a wreck of the place to try and protect what memories and items her dad left behind. That ended up her getting hit in the head with a metal pipe and knocked out on the floor.

                She had no idea how long she was out but when she woke up Aradia had a splitting head ach. Her hand went to the tender spot on her head and touched it as light as a feather yet it still felt like a thousand bricks crashed onto her. Ice on that later. Dizzy as can be she still got up and stumbled over to the dresser. It was knocked over and the back panel was off of it. Leaning over it to try and catch a breath her blurry eyes saw something. It was a shoebox that had her name across it in her father’s writing. Picking it up and leaning against the wall she opened up the lid and looked inside. It was everything that she had given him as gifts when they went out on their Saturday strolls. The fake letter she gave him, the notes she gave him, and everything else. Looking down at it a smile came onto her face as her hand went to her necklace thinking of him. Tears welled up into her eyes as she thought of this and how he managed to make sure that everything kept into near perfect condition. It was sweet and she was happy again, and she could almost feel him putting a hand on her shoulder and giving her a slight squeeze. That was when her sister came into the room and saw her there looking at the things in her lap.

                “Well looks like you found something of value here. Let me see that!” she demanded as she snatched away the shoebox.

                “No that is mine!” Aradia yelled as she tried to get up to get it back. Her head still hurt and the light bothered her to much so she sat back down.

                “Bullshit I bet you stole it!” she retorted as she looked inside it, “What the hell is all this shit? Here I thought dad had something of value besides those stupid stories of his. Guess not. Oh well makes for good fuel for a fire. “

                “No! Don’t you even dare do that!”

                Damara walked out of the room carrying the box close to her chest and went out back where her friends were waiting. They probably came over when Aradia was out cold. Damn, she was right. There was a fire going on in the back yard. A bonfire party. Fantastic.

                Aradia tried to move her way out back as quickly as she could, stumbling a little until she made it to the back door. Her eyes opened just enough to see her tossing in the box of stuff into the flames and it consumes it in front of her to keep the fire going. All she did was slowly and calmly go back inside to her room and locked the door as she started to ball her eyes out. Aradia never forgave her sister after that.

                Back to the present now Aradia found herself at the park finally. Those two hours actually did go by a lot quicker than she thought they would have. Yet her feet needed rest. But being weird as she was sitting on the bench or the ground was not good enough for her. No, she made her way to a tree near the open space in the center and climbed up it and got comfortable. Her feet dangled down from the branch she was perched on and it felt so relaxing to her.  
  
                                                    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                When Equius got out of school it was nothing out of the usual for him to head back to his house. He made his way to his room quietly to make sure his dad did not wake up from his drunken slumber at his desk. Poor old man he was a wreck now days ever sense they left Serbia.

                Closing his door he looked around his room a little bit. In it was a flat screen TV for the best picture quality, a desk for work, a bed in the corner, some posters of horses up around his room with Comanche Native Americans riding them, his name on the wall, an old pair of boxing gloves, blueprints for some robot he was making and other blueprints for a suit he was making, and a few historical significant items. On the wall above his bed was a Nazi flag that had burn holes through it. He had it as a reminder of his heritage and how bad his grandmother had it before she was able to flee from them. Even if she was full German, she hardly had any rights and did not agree with Hitler so she had to get to America.

                Tossing his bag on the bed he searched the room for his duffle bag. He had a settle to score with Beck from the comment he made to Aradia about him being gay. They decided to settle it at the gym in an hour with bareknuckle boxing. Most would think Beck has the advantage of being bigger when in reality that was a disadvantage to him. Being bigger meant that he was a bigger target too. Plus, Equius did more than his fair share of bareknuckle boxing back in Macedonia and knew how to hold himself in a fight. He did train like a cage fighter so this should not be that hard.

                Finding his bag, the tape, and change of clothes, Equius made his way back out of the house and locked the door on the way out. He grabbed his keys from his pocket and opened the garage door to reveal what he drove. It was a dark blue with black trimming and the model was a BMW M3. It has been around for a while but it was good, sturdy, and a great car. It did subtly showed off the money he had but not completely in your face like some of the other students in the school had it.

                He tossed the bag in the back of the car as he got into the diver seat and turned it on. There was one thing that he appreciated about BMW is their engineering of their car types. He put it in drive and music from his Russian culture as loud as he could blast them without waking up his father and blasting out his ears. Equius gripped onto the wheel tight with his fists to the point they were nearly white as he made his way out and closed the garage. Pulling out he made her way down the drive way and making his way to the closed down gym that they agreed on to so they would not get in trouble about fighting like this. It was not that far away from his house, about 15 minutes’ drive to the town then another 5 minutes out past that. The entire time his mind was either on the music, on the fight, or on Aradia.

                When he got to the gym he saw a classic, forest green Beetle Bug in the back and he pulled up next to it. There was no one in the car so that must mean that he was already in the gym getting ready for this fight. That was one thing that anybody could count on Beck is that he kept to his word. When he said he was going to do something, he was going to do it to the best of his ability or beyond such capabilities by finding more people to help out too. It was why he was happy to have such a guy as a rival because it kept things very interesting between the two of them.

                Getting out of the car and grabbing his bag he made his way inside to the gym. In the middle of it was the ring and off to the right side he could hear the faint sounds of fists hitting a sand bag. The moment he got there he knew who was going to be hitting that bag to warm up his fists for such an event. Shame they did not sell tickets for it. The juggernaut already had a few sweat beads falling down his tanned skin by the time he saw his opponent walking up to him.

                “Hey looks like the foreigner didn’t chicken out.” Beck taunted with that Scottish accent of his.

                “Look who is talking. I was no born in the highlands, but you to are foreigner.” He retorted. So literal and very, very bad at smack talk.

                “Least my first language was English and those ‘ere can understand me better.”

                There was no time for this now. It was better to settle this in the ring rather than with their words. Equius grunted letting his duffle bag down and unzipping it to pull out the tape to wrap around his knuckles for this. Even bareknuckle wasn’t as raw as a real fight and they still had a lot of rules themselves. Like he practiced many times he wrapped his fists all around in multiple layers of the stuff to ensure there should and would be enough protection but still land a solid hit. Once done with that he tied his hair back went to a punching bag and started to it that to warm up before all of this. There would not be too many rounds; in fact it would just be one round that would last for as long as either of them can stand between the two of them. When he got a good warm up done he hopped into the ring with Beck and started to hop around.

                “Ya ready for this Equius? If you wanna back out now I won’t tell anyone about this. Hell I will even say you won.”

                “No, we fight. We agreed, we go though.”

                “Fine, fine that was your last shot before I knock you down and out.”

                They walked to the center of the ring and shook hands for good sport before getting back and lifting their fists in front of bodies and face. It was true, Beck did have the size on him but Equius had the speed. First punch out was from Beck directed at Equius’ arm. He stepped to the side fast and lunged forward to try and jab him in the face. He was blocked by a fist and was pushed back. This may take a while between the two of them.

                 A flurry of blows was exchanged between the two rivals. Each scored blows to the stomach, the head, arms and other places. The single round lasted about an hour between the two of them with all of the dodging and hitting. Those hits from Beck were hard, almost as if someone was chucking a baseball at the skin and hitting dead on. Equius was no lightweight either, he was hitting him more often than the other was to him and was hitting more precise with hard impacts to the head. By the end of it they called it a truce. Equius was seeing doubles of Beck and everything around him and could feel the blood trickling down his face from the scratches he received from the guy and bruises already forming everywhere under his skin. There might be some teeth loose but he doubted it, for now anyways. His opponent however had a black eye, many more cuts on the face and plenty of bruises all over his arms and probably his back too. Yet they were both smiling like the idiots they were as they went and hugged one another as a thank you from both of them.

                “You…fight well…” Equius commented to him as he nearly fell out of the ring.

                “Yer aren’t so bad yerself. We probably should not do this to often though.”

                “Why not? Feel winded?”

                “Nah, just don’t wanna get caught and kicked out of school.”

                “Makes sense.”

                They both got out half dizzy and bloody and stumbled to the bathroom. The water was still on here which was a good thing as they took rags and started to clean themselves up. Blood was easy to get off the hard part was going to be the cuts and bruises all over them. Unless either of them decide to wear makeup or something to cover it all up.

                “How shall we say what went on?” Beck asked him.

                “We had tension, we got rid it. In park or backyard.”

                “Ay, not ‘bout to lie anytime soon I guess.” He sighed. Finishing off cleaning himself he tossed his rag into his own bag and began taking the bandages off of his hands from the tape. There was blood visible under there too, meaning there was a bloody knuckles under them. It was another sign of a good fight between the two.

                The two stood there in silence after that. Most of the time they were putting things away, changing, or checking up on each other to be sure they actually were okay to drive home. It was as if there was a mutual agreement between the two without any words needing to be spoken. They had an odd relationship but it worked out for the better of them.

                Equius made his way back to his car after getting his vision back to a full view. He still had plenty of light left, might as well take out one of his projects and test how well it can do on uneven ground. When he got home he got he did not need to get back into the house, he rather not disturb his father, and went to the shed he made his own. Turning on a light there was what many would think one of those battle robots on the floor under a table. It was that, but it was much more to the guy than that. He started it when he was young and kept improving on it as he got older. It was one of those things no one could get rid of as a kid.

                Lugging it to the car and getting it settled was the easy part. He was going to head back into town in order to get himself some dinner too and might as well test it out there. So taking another fifteen minutes he made his way out into the park and set up camp. The remote control for the thing was similar to what one would use for an advanced helicopter or one of those advanced RC cars that many collect. Sitting on a bench he was zoned out of the world watching the thing move around, his mind ticking in his head to see how well it is working, where it needs improvements and how to improve them.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                After a few minutes of sitting in the tree Aradia had to get down, her butt was hurting. So she decided to wonder around the park for a little bit, maybe find a bench to sit on and rest there for some time before heading on back to the school.

                As she did, the sun got lower in the sky when she found herself looking at a weird contraption in front of her. It was at least three and a half feet tall with a bunch of wires sticking out of it, a saw on one end and what looks like a pic on the other end.  It looked dangerous as hell and it only made her want to get closer and examine it even more. The girl hardly understood what the mechanics of it were or anything of that nature but she did understand when something was given a lot of time and effort in it. This was one of those things she noticed.

               Looking up she saw who was controlling it. Wasn’t that the guy from yesterday, the one who carried her bags for her? Getting closer she noticed it was in fact him. It was kind of odd seeing him out here like this, but because he was a part of the school so he had to be really smart. People have their different areas that they excel in; his seemed to be the sciences and the math areas for it to be something like this. Aradia tried not to disturb him as he was taking care of this but he seemed to notice her and freeze in his place. So much for just sitting back and watching.

              “Hello, remember me?” she asked him with a bit of a smile.

               He just sat there and looked at her, only responding to her with a slight nod of the head. So yes he does remember her.

              “I’m sorry I don’t remember your name. What is it?” she asked.

“E-Equius…” he responded, half choked out. What made this guy so tense all of a sudden?

“Hello Equius, I’m Aradia if you don’t remember.”

“I know your name. We have same history class.”

“Oh…okay that’s pretty cool. So what do you have here? You make it?”

His posture seemed to relax just the slightest bit when she asked him about his machine. Equius’s face still kept stern and almost unemotional but there was a hint of a smile on that face of his.

“Da, I make it. Work on it since I was little.” He told to her. The guy did not seem like much of a talker, which was a bit of a sad thing.

“Can you show me how it works or something?”

He gave another stiff nod to her before showing her some of the tricks it can do. The blade moved, it went up to ten miles an hour and turned on a dime, even shoot out tiny rockets if need be. Being made and remade over and over again it was a fantastic work for someone who is only a senior in high school, despite how prestigious it is.

“You’re really smart, this is great.” She laughed. Honestly, even if she had no idea how it worked, she enjoyed doing this with him.

“Thank you.” He responded. Even Equius, the guy who never smiles, was smiling some as he showed off his creation. In fact, one might go as far as to say that he was actually enjoying himself here.

The two had some fun for about an hour, chatting with one another just making minor talk. Weather, classes, a little bit of gossip here and there. It was then Aradia noticed what time it was, thirty minutes later than when she should have left to head on back to the school. She did not want to get locked out for the night.

“Hey…nice seeing you again. I’ve got to go through, need to get back to my dorm before they close it.” Aradia told to him as she stood up from the bench.

“Wait. No. You come with me; I take you back to school in car. No big deal.” Equius stated to her. It seemed as if he wanted to spend more time with her just didn’t know how to.

Aradia was taken aback by this a little. She was a little suspicious on why this guy was being so nice to her, but shrugged it off none the less before giving him a nice, sweet smile.

“I would love to. Thanks.”

Getting into cars with strangers is not the best of ideas but she kind of knew this guy. At least he went to her school and actually was in some of her classes, so that way they were not total strangers. That was her logic in this situation.

He seemed shocked; at least from his body language he seemed shocked. The guy did not stagger, but his shoulders moved back some as if he was genuinely shocked. He was wearing sunglasses despite how late it was so she couldn’t see his eyes to get an accurate reading of his emotions or around what he was thinking. However when the realization settled he simply nodded and picked up his robot thing and nodded for them to head over to the parking lot.

“Is there anything I can help carry or…?” Aradia questioned, wanting to help him.

“No, no help. Thank you though.”

When they got to the BMW, Equius loaded the robot in the trunk and strapped it down so it wouldn’t slide everywhere ruining the trunk. He then made his way to the passenger door and opened it up for Aradia, being a gentleman from what she assumed. It was again really nice of him to do such a thing for her. She would have to make him a thank you card or at least give him gas money for taking her back to the school. She couldn't just keep taking from him; she had to give back at least a little bit.

By the time Equius was in the car, Aradia was looking around to see how the interior was. Tan leather seats that were heated for the winter, seat covers so no one would stick to them in the summer that had a design of horses on them for an odd reason, but the rest of it was a normal car. The only other thing Aradia found odd was that it was so clean, as if he got in and made sure every dust particle, every bit of dirt, every hair was gone from it to make it in the best condition it could be in. It almost made her uncomfortable being in this with him. He didn’t seem to pick up on that.

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She wanted to be alone with him? Him of all people?! Equius was just being nice when he offered a ride back to the school; no one should have to walk that this late at night. Yet the fact she actually _accepted_ his offer made him freeze in his tracks. Already he could feel a little bit of a light sweat going down the back of his neck before he tried to keep it under control.

The car drive back was one of the most awkward moments of his life. His arms were stiff against the steering wheel as he drove, pushing him into the seat more than he was used to. Yet despite his ridged appearance, he was driving a little slower than he normally would. Why would someone want to make that awkward moment to last longer than needed? It was because he just wanted to be around her besides in school. This might be his only time to be able to do such a thing, and it was better than nothing and he will take it and extend it for as long as he can.

To try and break the silence he says, “What music you enjoy?”

Out of the corner of his eye, and though the sunglasses, he sees her ponder for a little.

“I guess I listen to anything really. It is a matter of the song honestly.” She responds.

“I have foreign music. Put in CD and press play. They over your head.”

Looking up she pulled down the visor and saw the assortment of CDs he has. There were at least ten of them, all of them not in English. Why the hell would he have something in English? He prefers to listen to something he actually _enjoys._

The next thing he knew there was a really loud guitar rift from one of his favorite metal bands blasting from his speakers. He should have remembered that he was playing his music loud earlier! She already jumped and headed towards the volume to turn it down. Once done, Aradia turned to look at him slowly before bursting out laughing.

_Oh God she is laughing at me._ He thought in Russian. His grip only tightened to show he was nervous about this.

“Well I sure as heck wasn’t expecting something that loud. Made me jump out of my skin!” She told to him though the giggles.

There was a moment of realization and slowly Equius started to chuckle with her, but not outright laughing. He guessed it was funny, but was still trying to calm down from his scare with that. From the look of it, it seemed as if she enjoyed it and enjoyed the music that he kept.

“I didn’t take you for a rock guy, much less a metal guy.” She commented after that song was over.

“I like many music. More from the mother and fatherlands than here in America.” He told to her.

“Mother….and fatherlands?” Aradia pondered. Her head tilted a little bit to him as if to add emphasis to her question.

Fuck, why did he have to call them that?

“Motherland is Germany, fatherland is Russia. Being that where my grandparents are from.”

“Yet you look Native American.” Pointing out the obvious to him was hardly a way to calm him down.

“Da. I am half Native American. Mother was full blooded Native American. I prefer my father’s history.” He explained to her. Talking about the history of his family, either side but more his dads, always somehow got him excited.

“That is why you sound Russian but looks like a…” she trailed off before laughing, having it all clicks he assumed.

For some time after that there were more songs, and even a few Aradia head banged to just for the fun of it. Equius was actually having fun too, but he always made sure to keep his hands at 10 and 2 and eyes on the road. Distraction could prove a crash and something bad for the two of them. However it was not the songs and the actions that were making him happy, it was also knowing Aradia was not repulsed by him and enjoying her too. He did not laugh, but he at least smiled and tapped his hand to the beat of the music. By the time they got to the school his favorite song was finishing up when he pulled to the gates.

“Well thanks for bringing me back to the school.” Aradia thanked for the third or fourth time, he lost count.

“Again, no problem. Be safe.” He told to her with a smirk on his face.

They sat there for a little before she nodded and opened the car door, getting out and walking off to her dorm room. Equius sat there watching her as she faded into the shadows to make sure she would be safe. When she was gone, he sat just a little longer before pulling away and going home.

 


End file.
